Review for Simutrans

[Railwaymodeler]

Simutrans, a freeware transportation and economics game, is in spirit similar to the famous Transport Tycoon series. The aim of the game is the same - to connect cities and industries using road, air, water, and rail systems, and of course to get rich doing so.

On the surface, there may not be much of a superficial difference - both share an isometric viewpoint and similar network building concepts, but beyond the surface, there are many differences that make Simutrans unique.

In Transport Tycoon, the player can transport any mineral to any facility that accepts it on the map. In Simutrans, this is not so simple. Coal mines, for example, have workers (a feature totally lacking in the Microprose game) that come from certain predefined cities and the coal only goes to predefined customers. This is a very realistic and well thought-out touch.

Passengers are set up similarly. Just as in real life, you do not get on a bus to go anywhere the driver tells you to. Passengers in Simutrans have set destinations they want to go to, they have places they have to be too and want to be at with the least amount of transferring from vehicle to vehicle!

There are different grades of roadways and railways in newer revisions of Simutrans, with different speed limits. Will you build a cheap road, but slow your trucks down? Or spend more upfront and on maintenance but have vehicles going top speed?

Simutrans's learning curve, is a bit more steep because of these differences, but it becomes a bit easier over time. Don't expect your first few networks to become huge successes!

Another great feature is the fact you can plug in your own graphics sets, which are often done as fan-made add-ons. There's a wide variety out there, including a set to make Simutrans look like Transport Tycoon.

In all, if you're a transport fan, or like business management games, it is hard to go wrong with Simutrans.